India's Daughter is a
controversial documentary film, directed by the English actress and producer Leslee
Udwin, based on the infamous 2012 Delhi gang rape and murder of a 23-year-old
medical student. India’s Daughter was initially planned to be broadcast worldwide
on International Women's Day i.e. 8 March 2015, but BBC preponed its telecast to
4 March after the Indian government banned the film, deeming it highly
sensitive for public broadcast. A highly upset government has served a legal
notice to BBC after the channel ignored the government’s advice and went ahead
with the broadcast of India’s Daughter which also features the controversial
interview of one of the Delhi gang-rape convicts. India’s daughter was also
uploaded on YouTube by BBC on its channel but it was later taken off by YouTube
after the intervention of the Indian authorities.

Now, BBC claims
that India’s Daughter is well within its editorial guidelines. Not to mention
that BBC follows the strictest of guidelines and norms for conducting research
work for all its productions. So, what is the real problem? First, we Indians
are a sensitive lot and are not as open and receptive as the people in the West
to such controversial material. Second, the documentary promos (mainly sections
from the convict’s interview) shown on the Indian TV channels looked
particularly disturbing as is always the case whenever certain controversial footage
is shown out of context. Clearly, the makers were trying to be a bit clever in a bid to create some buzz before the telecast. Also, the Indian news channels made the situation worse for the makers. The news channels in our country have a tendency to blow things out of proportion so as to create some sensation in order to boost their TRPs. A major concern with these 24/7 channels is that the quality of content that gets broadcast is worse than B-grade movies! Also, they often end up stoking fire on
delicate issues which ought to be treated with a lot of care and responsibility.

Leslee Udwin: Maker of India's Daughter

While the debates and
discussion broadcasted day in and day out on the Indian TV channels are invariably meaningless, the
debaters not only lack knowledge but also the most basic manners. And, to make
the matters worse, the moderators forget their true purpose and end up becoming
debaters themselves as if one ‪Arnab Goswami weren't enough. I once
overheard a Belgian journalist telling his Indian counterpart that he has been
advised to stay away from the Indian news channels so as to keep his sanity
intact. My earnest advice to the concerned governing body is to make it
mandatory for these news channels to ensure that both the TV presentators as
well as the participants first complete certifications in basic propriety
before being allowed to appear on National Television.

As to our governments,
when will they learn that banning films like "India's Daughter" is
not the solution to the heinous acts of sexual violence? The Indian authorities
feel that the movie would do damage to India’s reputation in the global arena (it should be noted that the victim's parents are themselves a part of the documentary and that it was shot only after getting their consent).
But, in truth, the reputation of the country started deteriorating the day this
heinous incident took place. Besides, it's not that sexual depravity is non-existent in the West. If anything, the government should be more
concerned about spreading social awareness among the masses. The gender inequality
is the root cause of sexual exploitation. The dogmatic mindset that tends to put restrictions on what kind of dress women should wear, what type of education they should get, how women should carry themselves in the society, etc.is deeply rooted in our patriarchal society. When in our own families our elders
give the male child more importance or attention, the seeds for this inequality
are sowed there and then. So, watching films such as India’s Daughter can
actually help in curbing such acts of depravity. For, more than anything, such
documentaries can spread awareness about the root causes of evil. We always
speak of the need for strict laws but seldom do we give any importance to
social awareness which is of much more importance when it comes to fighting social
evils prevalent in our society. The importance of motion pictures in spreading
this awareness can never be overemphasized.

8
comments:

I can't understand our government's decision stating that the objectionable content in 'India's Daughter' could lead to public unrest. This is the same reason that's been given under various occasions of ban by the state & central government, and even by our courts. Are we an anarchist society, creating unrest over anything. I don't think general public ever created ruckus over a movie or documentary or a book. Just because the documentary is produced by BBC, some claim its the old imperialist view on India. Then, why don't the Indian channels come up with making such socially conscious documentaries? All they could conduct is blabbering, stupid talk shows. The documentary in no way maligns India. This banning thing is getting very worse in our country. In the last few days, the censor board -- the so-called moral backbone of our country -- banned the word 'lesbian' in a movie; Patna high court banned the movie 'Dirty Politics'; a Tamil writer is beaten up for writing some 'objectionable' things about a particular caste, and he is slapped with obscenity charge from police; beef ban; ban on 'Fifty Shades of Grey' (most laughable of all).

As a nation we are at a loss (given, we are a highly touchy lot) when it comes to dealing with these so called sensitive issues... mindset of each and every Indian needs to be changed completely... we need visionaries like Raja Ram Mohan Roy and Swami Vivekananda.

Its really saddening situation. We the nation of peace lovers are breeding insanity, pent up anger.These so called office bearers are fighting over ban on the documentary, they are least concerned about crimes going around their own homes.

QR Code

Murtaza Ali Khan is an independent film critic / journalist based out of New Delhi, India. He has been writing on cinema for over seven years. He runs the award-winning entertainment blog A Potpourri of Vestiges. He is also the Films Editor at the New York City-based publication Cafe Dissensus and regularly contributes to The Hindu and The Sunday Guardian. He was previously a columnist at Huff Post. He has also contributed to publications like DailyO, Newslaundry, The Quint, Dear Cinema, Desimartini and Jamuura Blog. He regularly appears as a guest panelist on the various television channels and is also associated with radio.